Tagged: ATX Vegan Drinks

We interrupt our (not so) regularly scheduled 2014 Vegan MoFo theme posts, “Top 20 – Eat Yo’ Veggies Edition” for an overdue (and slightly indulgent) “Vegan News Bites”. Some of this might be old news to many of our readers, but there’s so much that happens in this town, that we hope everybody will have a chance to learn something new! Apologies in advance for the epically long post, but that’s what happens when you combine the incredibly active vegan scene we have here in Austin with a healthy dose of good old-fashioned procrastination.

Vegan-friendly Businesses

We’ll start off with the biggest and most exciting news for Austin vegans: Rabbit Food Grocery is moving into a brick-and-mortar location! Their kickstarter campaign just got 100% funded yesterday, but there’s still a little over two weeks left for you to back their campaign and help them move in. Kickstarter backers can look forward to scoring some awesome RFG swag, groceries delivered to your home, or even a chance at an all-you-can-grab vegan supermarket sweep! In the meantime, you can still order online, and as our readers, you can save 10% off your whole order for the entire month of September! Just enter coupon code “RedHotVegans” at checkout!

Summer is in full swing, and everyone’s taking advantage of the warm weather. Austin vegans are planning up a storm, and with a dessert social, 4th of July cookout, party barge and more in the works, there’s something for everyone in this town. There are some great recurring events coming up, including the June Fruitluck (aka fruit potluck) at Barton Springs tomorrow (June 22nd), a newly created Crafty Night at Unity Vegan Kitchen on Thursday, June 26th, and an Austin Raw Food Diet potluck on Saturday, June 28th. In addition to these recurring events, we’ve quite a few special events on the calendar:

Sunday, June 22nd:

5pm to 7:30pm – NadaMoo!’s Whole ‘Lotta Dessert Social at NO VA Kitchen & Bar tomorrow is a not-to-be-missed fundraiser for the Whole Planet Foundation! It’s not mentioned on the event page, but the event organizers have assured me that this will in fact be an entirely vegan event with desserts, cocktails, and coffee provided by Skull & Cakebones, GoodPops, NadaMoo!, and Chameleon Cold Brew. So far I’ve heard there will be whoopie ice cream pies, pop-tails, and cold brew floats, plus Brad Sorenson from NO VA will be making a vegan dessert as well. For those hoping to watch USA in the World Cup, have no fear, the game will be playing at the bar. Tickets are $10, and you can purchase them in advance on Eventbrite or pay in cash at the door.

Friday, June 27th:

7pm to 10pm – Beets Cafe fans have known for a couple of months now that Austin’s one and only raw restaurant will be shutting its doors indefinitely. To celebrate the great run they had, they’re throwing a farewell celebration. There will be droves of Beets fans, music, and of course, the Beets crew is going to make some delicious raw treats! Let them know how much they meant to the Austin community, and send them off with a bang.

Saturday, June 28th:

All Day – It’s Vegan Pizza Day! This most glorious of holidays will be celebrated with pizza-themed specials at Capital City Bakery from 11am to 7pm. At 12pm the Austin Progressive Vegetarians are hosting a Vegan Pizza Day meetup at Sauced in the Highland Mall. For those looking to throw their own Vegan Pizza Day party, check out our extensive (and recently updated) Austin Vegan Pizza Guide!

9am to 4pm – Head on down to Seguin, TX for a chance to lend a helping hand at the SARA Sanctuary Volunteer Day and Picnic. Get out of the city, get your hands dirty for a good cause, and get animal kisses in return! Vegan food and drinks will be provided (beer & wine for the grown ups), but you’re also welcome to bring any vegan food you like. Their only requirement is that you be an animal lover.

Friday, July 4th:

3pm – BBQ Revolution and the rest of the North Loop House & Yard vegan trailer gang will be hosting a 4th of July Cookout in conjunction with ATX Vegan Drinks! Every trailer in the lot is now entirely vegan (making this the first all-vegan food trailer lot in the world!), as Taco ‘Bout It recently switched their menu to be entirely vegan! All the trailers will be coming up with patriotic specials, from veggie burgers at BBQ Revolution to vegan funnel cake and chick’n and waffles from Unity Vegan Kitchen. Rabbit Food Grocery will also be in attendance, dessert will be provided by Skull & Cakebones, there will be a raffle to raise funds for a local nonprofit, and to top it all off, there will be free beer!

4pm to 8pm – Counter Culture will also be hosting a 4th of July Party on the East Side, with summer classics including vegan corndogs, burgers, slaw, potato salad, strawberry shortcake and more. Enjoy your food while listening to all-American country, roots and rockabilly, and try your chances at the Happy Cow cookbook giveaway!

Sunday, July 6th:

10:30am to 2pm – Mr. Natural’s next monthly vegan brunch falls on the 4th of July weekend, and we cannot be more excited by their patriotic themed brunch! For $16 you get an endless buffet that will include corn dogs, mac and cheeze, fried chick’n, pancakes, chocolate cream pie, apple crisp and so much more! We think it’s really awesome that a vegetarian restaurant has taken on the task of creating a huge, entirely vegan brunch buffet, so we always look forward to these weekends. Expert tip for Mr. Natural brunch newbies – don’t skip out on the agave mustard! It’s a must on the country fried seitan, and whatever else you can think to put it on.

Sunday, August 31st:

12pm to 5pm – The Vegan Party Barge is back! The 5th Annual Vegan Party Barge is officially happening, and while it’s a little ways in the future, you should certainly start planning now (and buy your tickets ASAP, as they always sell out). This year the tickets are $40 (with a $5 discount for AV&VA Members), which includes entrance to the barge, pool noodles for lounging in the water, non-alcoholic drinks and a catered vegan lunch. The barge is BYOB, so pack a small cooler, and enjoy a beautiful day on Lake Travis with a bunch of awesome vegans!

Restaurant News:
– I noticed that a new Japanese restaurant in town called The Dojo mentioned they were working on a vegan ramen on their Facebook page, but when a friend emailed me pictures of the menu from their soft opening, I was shocked. 12 menu items were clearly marked with a vegan icon. Vegan ramen was just the beginning: edamame, pickled vegetables, seaweed salad, sunomono, spinach salad, tofu caprese, tomato croquettes, kaki-age, tofu steak, veggie gyoza and even homemade coconut ice cream were all marked vegan! The Dojo is Austin’s first izakaya, a kind of Japanese bar where food is meant to be enjoyed at a slower pace while ordering drinks and hanging out. Their tentative hours are 5pm to 2am, so this could potentially become one of the few late-night vegan options up north. I’m excited to see that another Austin restaurant has put so much thought into their vegan offerings, and can’t wait to check it out myself. (Above photos taken by awesome vegan food finder Aaron Reiser!)- Red Rabbit Cooperative Bakery has opened their first location in a trailer on 53rd St near Airport. Currently serving donuts from 7am to 1pm (or till sold out), this trailer is a welcome addition to the North Loop neighborhood! It’s the perfect morning stop on the way to work… maybe even grab a few extra for your co-workers who will be undoubtably impressed by these stellar vegan donuts.
– The Vegan Nom, everyone’s favorite North Loop taco trailer, announced plans to open a second trailer sometime soon. When, where, and with what menu is still a mystery that I hope we will know the answers to soon!

New Menu Items:- Sauced, in the Highland Mall Food Court, tried out vegan pizza on their menu for the first time last weekend, and it was such a huge success that they’re doing it again this weekend. If this is something you’d like to see as a permanent menu item, make sure to go out there and show your support! With a crispy thin crust and two faux-meat options, I was really happy with the newest addition to the vegan pizza scene. I know I’ll be spending more time in the Highland Mall with pizza options like theirs around.
– Mr. Natural is rolling out a new menu soon. They put out a Facebook teaser with a photo of a monster vegan Texas burger with fakin’ bacon, daiya, BBQ, jalapeños and more. If the new burger is any indication of what’s to come, I for one am looking forward to trying their new menu.- Baton Creole, an adorable pink trailer on E 6th St, has been cranking out new and exciting vegan options lately. There is a vegan jambalaya on a stick on their regular menu, and a rotating vegan special once a month that will coincide with ATX Vegan Drinks on the first Friday of the month. Last month’s vegan special was a “crab” cake, with okra creole over rice on the side. I’ve also heard that there may be a partnership between Capital City Bakery and Baton Creole, with the possibility of vegan beignets in our future. Everything Baton Creole has made so far has blown my mind, so I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

Events:
– ATX Vegan Drinks will be at Sweet Ritual this Friday with a build-your-own sundae bar, donuts from Red Rabbit Bakery and cookie dough from Celeste’s Best! It will be a BYOB event, so grab some drinks to bring, or take advantage of Juiceland’s large selection of non-alcoholic juices, smoothies and kombucha!
– Counter Culture has posted an exciting Soul Food and Music event on Wed, July 24th. With food specials including fried seitan & gravy, BBQ tempeh, mashed potatoes, fried green tomatoes, creamed greens, deep south slaw, cornbread stuffing, sweet potato pie, peach cobbler and more, I can’t wait to try them all while listening to southern soul music.
– CityBoy Cuisine will be starting a new event called Bistro Vonish, which will be a vegan fine dining supper club. These vegan multi-course dinners are hopefully the lead up to Chef Craig Vanis opening a brick-and-mortar vegan fine dining establishment, which is one thing that would certainly be a welcome addition to the Austin vegan scene.

- Just stopped by Sweet Ritual to pick up a salted caramel brownie shake (ridiculously good btw), and found these nifty Austin Vegan Guide postcards. Featuring a full list of the Austin vegan businesses, and a few awesome blogs in town (including yours truly), these postcards are out just in time for SXSW. Whether you’re a local, or just in town for the week, pick one up, as you might learn something new.

- Speaking of learning something new… the secret’s out about Capital City Bakery‘s new brick and mortar address. It’s listed on the postcard as “coming soon, 2013″ at 2211 E. Cesar Chavez. Located smack dab in between Mr. Natural and Counter Culture, and a few blocks away from Sugar Circus, East-siders are going to have no lack of vegan treats.

- If you’re not already following VegNews on Instagram, you should be. We are freaking out about the pictures they are posting from Expo West. The new products include pot pies and pockets from Tofurky, breakfast sandwiches and jerky from Gardein, maple bacon potato chips from Kettle Chips and bleu cheese dressing from Follow Your Heart. It could be months before any of these hit the shelves, but you can be sure, we’ll be the first in line to snap them up.

- Texas VegFest is less than one month away! Have you seen their list of vendors? and speakers? There will be burgers, Ethiopian, falafel, donuts, baked goods, ice cream and funnel cake to eat. Not to mention chefs, cookbook authors, and professional athletes to hear speak. The best part is that it’s all right here in Austin!

- The menu for the St. Patrick’s Day ATX Vegan Drinks at Counter Culture is looking amazing: Dublin coddle (sausage dish), corned beef & cabbage, apple mash, bread pudding with Irish whiskey sauce, Irish coffee, green juice and of course, lots of beer! Add Red Hot Vegans’ very own vegan bagpiper to the mix, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a party!

- Raw, gluten-free, fruitarian? Austin’s got your back. Blenders and Bowls, a new açaí smoothie and bowl cafe has opened up shop downtown. They offer both gluten-free and vegan options. Wild Wood Bake House, an entirely gluten-free bakery and cafe has reopened across the street from Wheatsville. They offer a selection of vegan baked goods, sandwiches and hot entrees. For our fruit loving friends, Daily Juice‘s downtown location is now open, as well as the new JuiceLand on North Burnet. Go forth and get your juice on!

- Brand new bakery Sunshine Sisters Vegan Bakery will be offering their goodies at the Bouldin Brunch Sales Event this Saturday from 8am to 2pm. The wait to get a table for brunch at Bouldin Creek Cafe is notoriously long, but luckily you now have a new way to kill the time – shopping! Head on over tomorrow morning and grab a delicious vegan baked good and browse the stalls of local vendors while you wait for your table. Vegan baked goods, brunch and shopping – it’s a win win win situation.

- In case you missed the multiple Facebook posts… Mr. Natural has announced that they now have vegan tiramisu! It’s so exciting, it just had to be called out one more time.

- Those of you familiar with Green Island Catering‘s Party Barge will be excited to hear that they have introduced a whole line-up of cruises, including a sunset bat watching cruise and a Valentine’s Day cruise! The next cruise will be on Friday, October 12th, with a 4-course vegan dinner. Make sure you get your tickets early, so you don’t miss the boat (pun intended).

- Amazing coconut-based vegan caramels are now available at Wheatsville Coop! JJ’s Sweets Cocomels are in stock in original, sea salt, vanilla and java flavors. Priced at a reasonable $3.99 for the pocket packs, you might just have to try them all!

- Get your Sheese fix before it’s too late! The US distributor for Sheese has decided to stop importing it for now. Rabbit Food Grocery has stocked up, but after they’re sold out, that’s it. No more delicious dairy-free sharp cheddar or blue cheese – oh no!

- ATX Vegan Drinks will be hosting its first ever Ice Cream Party TONIGHT! It’s going to be a monster of a party, with $5 build-your-own sundaes from Sweet Ritual, $1 sample-sized donuts from Red Rabbit Bakery and free cookie dough samples from Celeste’s Best. It’s BYOB, so grab some beer, a bottle of wine, or stash some liquor in your bag to “enhance” your sundae (Thanks Cassandra for the idea!). Be there or be square!

- Join Mercy for Animals for a week of veg outreach here in Austin! The Dallas Mercy for Animals office will be in town from July 17-20th, and they are looking for volunteers to help get the word out about plant-based diets by hitting the streets and leafleting.

- Craving $2 tacos for dinner? You’re in luck. The Vegan Nom is now open till 9pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday!

- Texas running back Arian Foster joins the ever growing list of professional athletes who have decided to go vegan! He’s been sharing his journey on twitter, even commenting, “People feel so strong about meat and milk. I wish they felt this strong about peace.” Hooray for awesome vegan role models!

- Green Island Catering announced their Third Annual Vegan Party Barge! Save the date for Saturday, September 1st. I missed the boat last time (pun intended), but I won’t let that happen again! Space is limited, so make sure to secure your spot by following the instructions on the invite on Facebook.

- Feeling active this summer? Vegan or veg-friendly? Join the Tofu Power kickball team! The season starts in mid-July and games are on Sundays in South Austin. They need 20 players to complete a team, so sign up today!

- Wheatsville announced their plan to launch a 2nd location in South Austin on South Lamar. This second store is just the start of Wheatsville’s expansion plans, and they hope to have as many as 5 Wheatsville locations open within the next 10-15 years. There will no longer be a popcorn tofu shortage in South Austin.

- Christy Morgan (aka The Blissful Chef) is moving to Austin! She wrote all about the upcoming move, and how great Austin is, on her blog TheBlissfulChef.com. Christy and her awesome cooking skills will be an exciting addition to the Austin vegan scene. I look forward to taking one of her cooking classes some day soon.

- Nomad Dosa has announced that they are moving to South Congress! Their new address, 1603 S. Congress, is in the same food truck lot as vegan-friendly Hey Cupcake! They’ll be at their new location by May 19th with new hours of operation: Monday-Sunday, 11:30 am-8:30 pm. I can’t wait to be able to run around SoCo and grab a dosa for dinner and a cupcake for dessert!

- ATX Vegan Drinks last Friday was a blast. It was great to see so many new faces. We’ve got pictures of the event up in our gallery. Our next event is in the works, so stay tuned for details.

- Doron Petersan, of Sticky Fingers Bakery and Cupcake Warsfame will be at MonkeyWrench Books on Sunday, May 20th for a book signing of her new book, Sticky Fingers’ Sweets: 100 Super-Secret Vegan Recipes. There will be a vegan dessert potluck at 6pm and the book talk/signing will start at 7pm. With recipes for everything from cupcakes and cookies to cheesecake and biscotti, I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

- I’ve always wanted to go on a cruise, but the idea of being stuck on a boat, without decent vegan options, sounded more like my worst nightmare than a vacation. The all-veg “Holistic Holiday at Sea” cruise has been around for a a while now, but now there is another decent veg option just announced from Holland America. Their entire line of cruise ships has added an all-vegetarian menu (with vegan options) to their main dining rooms. Hopefully, this will be a trend that continues to all the other cruise lines.

- VegNews has created a round-up of some of the oddest products ever veganized, including caviar, duck, foie gras, and haggis. This list caught my attention, as I have had a can of vegan haggis sitting in my kitchen for months now, which I have been hesitant to try. Growing up, I wasn’t the most adventurous eater, but as a vegan, I’ve been trying to open myself up to new foods. How many of these unique products have you tried?

- Gathering of the Tribes was a great success. The raffle was epic, with over $500 worth of prizes. Dan won an adorable “Kale is my Power-Plant” t-shirt made by local vegan t-shirt designer Jeff Zick. Jealous? You should be – but don’t worry, you can purchase your own through Rabbit Food Grocery!

- Mr. Natural‘s first vegan-friendly Sunday brunch starts today! Brunch will be served from 10am-3pm, only at their South Lamar location.

- As a California transplant, I’m pretty familiar with all things Trader Joe’s, so I was really stoked to learn that they plan on opening up an Austin location by 2013! Most Trader Joe’s locations have a decent selection of vegan yogurts, non-dairy milks, mock-meats, and yummy frozen items – all at incredibly affordable prices. It seems like they get more vegan friendly each year, so who knows what they’ll carry by 2013? I look forward to finding out.

- When the story about cochineal extract in Starbucks frappuccinos first broke about a month ago, I assumed it would be contained to a couple of vegan bloggers getting the word out to warn people – but it turns out no one wants crushed up bugs in their food. What a surprise. Starbucks has announced that it will phase out the bug-laced beverages, and replace them with ones colored by lycopene (a tomato extract) within a couple of months.

Hope everyone has recovered from last night’s amazing ATX Vegan Drinks Kick-Off party for Texas VegFest! The main event is today, so you better drive, bike, walk, crawl, do whatever you have to do to get your ass to Fiesta Gardens! Bring some money and an appetite, because the food vendor line-up looks insane!

- Make sure to stop by the Rabbit Food Grocery booth. They just got in an order of Dr. Cow vegan cheese! I’m so excited, I’ve already placed my order, and my cheese is securely in my fridge. You can tell that a city has made it in the vegan world when you can get Sheese and Dr. Cow locally. Austin has arrived.

- Coolhaus has finally announced that they have vegan cookies to make vegan ice cream sandwiches here in Austin! Vegan spiced carrot cake cookies, no less. They have rotating flavors of Strawberry Mojito, Spicy Pineapple Cilantro, and Blood Orange sorbet to complete your sandwich. This is nothing new for their LA, Miami and NYC locations – but it was breaking news for Austin last night on twitter. I can’t wait to try my first vegan Coolhaus ice cream sandwich!

- Our beloved food truck Arlo’s has posted on Facebook that they are looking for a new location, because they no longer have access to electricity at their current location. Please let them find a new location soon, as I think I am going into vegan bacon cheeseburger withdrawal!

- For those of you with children, or for those who are still children at heart, there’s a new vegan children’s book out called Vegan is Love that will be released on April 24th. You can pre-order it on Amazon today.

- My Easter plans are complete – my Egg Nots have arrived in the mail! I’m so excited to get my hands on these ceramic eggs and use all sorts of kitchen experiments to come up with natural dyes. Ecorazzi has a great blog post up, where they did just that. I plan on being a total copycat.

About Us

Red Hot Vegans is an Austin lifestyle blog dedicated to bringing you the latest and greatest vegan news and reviews – because Austin is awesome, vegans are awesome, and because being a vegan in Austin is the best!